Ex tenant still using my address after 4 years?

Return all post to Royal Mail with ‘Not at this address’ written clearly on the front.

https://cfa.nhs.uk/reportfraud

Worth just telling the GP’s surgery she’s moved away.

I ask current tenants to put all mail for previous parties/unknown recipients in a safe place and collect it regularly. I then open it and phone each company or organisation involved and ensure they realise that the party has moved away/make sure they stop using the address. This is particularly important if money is involved and/or debt collectors have been instructed as informing them promptly will head off bailiffs.

Reply to the comment left by Carolyn Barton at 02/10/2023 - 15:34
As tempting as it is you shouldn’t open mail not addressed to you (it’s actually an offence) regardless if you own the property. Simply strike out with “return to sender no longer at this address” and pop it back in the post. You can buy a stamp if you get loads.

I've moved, can't register with a NHS dentist, so go back to the previous location for check ups. As far as they know I'm still local to them. I don't feel guilty - for one thing its a "National" service, and if they can't provide me with a dentist anywhere else, they should allow the flexibility.
Is it actually against the rules?

Reply to the comment left by JaSam at 02/10/2023 - 17:07
This crops up on r/LegalAdviceUK alot. Under Postal Services Act 2000, "A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him."

As the tenant no longer lives at the property, notifying the sender the mail can't be delivered is a reasonable excuse for opening it. Everyone jumps on opening someone else's mail it a crime, but in the majority of cases it is not.

Reply to the comment left by JaSam at 02/10/2023 - 17:07
I am not sure that it is. Once a person has given notice and quit the premises a landlord is entitled to open their mail. One problem with using the 'return to sender' or returning to the post office method is that this often either doesn't get actioned or doesn't get actioned in a timely fashion leaving your new tenant or you with a sheaf of someone else's mail to deal with. If debtor's letters are not dealt with swiftly then unwanted visits by bailiffs occur and this can be very unsettling for the new tenant. The other matter which can often be discovered by opening mail is whether a business is bring run from the property - which is usually against the terms of the tenancy. One of my properties was being used as the registered address of an ex tenant's son's business which is obviously not desirable. So, I rang Companies House and dealt with it accordingly. Etc etc etc. The comment about using an address for registration with NHS/dentists etc has my sympathy but should there be written correspondence this will likely not reach the previous tenant and is again a nuisance to the incoming tenant and to the landlord. Lastly if correspondence is not dealt with properly (by the landlord) then it might get dumped in bins so compromising the person for whom it was originally intended and/or the address.

Reply to the comment left by Jonathan Willis at 02/10/2023 - 20:24
There must be legal precedents on this - but it's too late in the day to start searching for them. To be clear - there are a number of tenants who I got to know well and trust whose 'stray' letters still arrive after some years. In those cases, I simply text them to check their latest address and forward them. However, there are other occasions where ex tenants have turned out to be serial non payers with debts to numerous agencies and companies. On one occasion a large package of documents was posted/served by hand and my current tenant opened it only to find that it was a warrant for the arrest of the previous tenant for rental fraud elsewhere. This package was re sealed and returned to the local offices of the agency on whose behalf it was served following a phone call discussion with them. And so it goes ...... I like to know the circumstances surrounding my properties and not leave them to third parties to manage. The key phrase is 'without reasonable excuse' and each circumstance would have to be tested by the Courts - presumably, at the behest of the person whose mail had been opened. This likelihood seems remote and would have very little credence given the Landlord's position as a supposed prudent estate manager.

With the new cost of post, either return to sender or bin it